


Listener's Rebirth

by Sixylicious



Series: To Defy Destiny [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Alik'r Warriors, Coming of Age, Dark Brotherhood - Freeform, Fantastic Racism, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 07:23:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13406298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sixylicious/pseuds/Sixylicious
Summary: What if the Night Mother didn't go silent for so long? What if she chose her next Listener immediately? How would he find his Family?Snapshots from the childhood of the Listener, beginning with being chosen.





	Listener's Rebirth

**Author's Note:**

> Borrowed some lines in the first segment from various wiki entries on Elder Scrolls: Legends, which I have not played. This jumps around a lot, so pay attention to the dates at the beginning of each segment. Khati became Listener at 11.

Hegathe, Hammerfell, 4E 188:

Khati tossed and turned in his sleep, his dreams filled with vivid images the young Khajiit could not understand. A stone dark room somewhere, with a grand iron coffin in the background. A woman, dressed head to toe in black, facing off against a man with a twisted grin painted across his face.

"At last, the Night Mother's Crypt. Men, burn it to the ground!"

The woman's voice was filled with a fury Khati could feel echoing in his own mind. "Father."

The dream sped up. The coffin was gone, the crypt was burning now, and the woman locked blades with the man who had challenged her. Khati could only watch with a horror that was not entirely his own as the woman fell to the ground, her father's sword impaled into her stomach.

"You may kill me, father," she spat, "But the Brotherhood will live on. Someday, Sithis will find you again and you will join me in the Void!"

The man only grinned and left her to die. She laid back against the stone, gasping for breath. Though she shouldn't have been able to see him, their eyes met all the same. The Khajiit went rigid as something, some sort of energy seemed to transfer from the dying woman into him, filling him with warmth and the sense of coming home.

"I see it now," she breathed, staring deep into Khati's eyes. "You will be Listener in my stead... The Night Mother chooses well. She will take care of you, and in return you will return our Family to greatness. Do not fear..."

Khati woke with a start, the dreamlike warmth lingering as an eerie and otherworldly voice echoed through his mind. _'Sleep now, my daughter... you have served your Mother well.'_

*****

4E 190:

It hadn't taken Khati long to realize that only he could hear the voice. She called herself the Night Mother, or just Mother, and she called him Listener or son. She wouldn't speak when others were around, but he could always feel her presence with him. The Khajiit couldn't remember his real mother, and while Tameri and Meti treated him just like their own flesh and blood there had always been something missing. It wasn't missing anymore, and Khati just wanted someone to believe him and be happy for him! But Kemosiri didn't believe in Mother's voice, and after that Mother had told him not to tell Meti or Tameri.

_'It is better this way, my son... They could never understand our bond.'_

"But why?" Khati asked. No one was around, it was safe to speak to her aloud.

_'Our bond is special. Remember, you are the most important thing to me.'_

Khati hesitated for a moment, then a smile spread across his face. "I remember, Mother. Tell me again about our family?"

He could feel her smile, even though he couldn't see it. _'There are few of us left now... Cicero, your brother, is my Keeper. He takes care of my body while I teach you. Astrid takes care of our Family in your stead. They wait for you, my son. Someday you will meet them and bring them back to greatness. But first, you must practice.'_

Khati grumbled and hopped off his bed. She was right, just because Meti and Kemosiri were away didn't mean he could slack off on his training. His Family was waiting for him somewhere.

*****

4E 192:

"Khati! Khati!" 

The Khajiit sheathed his scimitar and turned his attention from the practice dummy as his Redguard brother came running. Kemosiri was grinning wildly and out of breath, sweat dripping from his brow.

"Calm down, what happened?"

Kemosiri's grin widened, if that was even possible. "Father spoke with the leaders of the Alik'r! They've accepted me!"

"Good, it's about time," Khati teased. "You've only been begging to join since you were ten."

Kemosiri laughed, but both of them knew he wouldn't deny it. "You should talk to them, Khati. You're better with a sword than I am, I'm sure they'd take you too."

Khati shrugged and turned back to his practice dummy. "Maybe I will."

***

Kemosiri was gone early every morning now, training with his new companions in the Alik'r. After a week of this, Khati went and presented himself to them as well, expecting to be allowed to join. Thanks to the combined teachings of Meti and the Night Mother, he was sure his swordsmanship was good enough.

He hadn't expected to be laughed away.

"You think we allow cats?" One said. Two others shook their heads and laughed. "I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous."

Khati's eyes narrowed and a violent scowl split his face. "Fine then! I'll just become a better swordsman than all of you combined."

"Pull that off and maybe we will let you join," taunted another Alik'r warrior.

_'Remember, my son,'_ the Night Mother whispered, _'You have a purpose much greater than this.'_

***

She gave him his first contract that night, a corrupt guard in the next village over. The Khajiit didn't hesitate, merely taking his scimitar and the armor Meti had purchased for him and going to find his target. 

_'Channel your rage into your blades, my son. This is your purpose, this is what you are meant for. Let no one get in your way.'_

It was his first kill, but the Khajiit wasn't repulsed by the action at all. The Night Mother had taught him well. It was easy enough to imagine the guard now dead at his feet as one of the Alik'r who had turned him away.

_'Clean up,'_ the Night Mother instructed. _'They cannot know you were here.'_

"They won't."

*****  
4E 193:

Tameri watched from the kitchen window as her Khajiit son attacked the training dummy with a fury she was becoming all too familiar with. Since Kemosiri had followed his father's footsteps and joined the Alik'r, Khati had become withdrawn and easily agitated. He trained day and night, destroying training dummies as fast as Meti could replace them. Then there were the vanishing acts, where he would simply take his weapons and disappear for a day or two. She worried, and so did her husband. It was fortunate, they knew, that Kemosiri was too busy with the Alik'r to really notice his best friend's strange behavior and absences. They had always been inseparable growing up, so what had changed?

"Khati!" she called. "It's time for lunch. Take a break and come eat."

Khati glanced back at her, his expression unreadable. After a moment's pause he sheathed his daggers and headed inside. He would eat without speaking, ignoring the conversation she and Miu kept trying to engage him in. Finally, once Miu left the table, Tameri had enough and addressed him directly. 

"Khati, what's wrong? You hardly talk to us anymore."

"I'm fine," he said without hesitation. "I need to get back to practicing."

"You've been training since dawn!" Tameri objected. "I don't understand it. Why are you doing this?"

"I have to prove someone wrong, that's all you need to know."

The Khajiit stood and shoved his chair in. His daggers were in his hands again before he made it back outside.

"At least tell me before you disappear somewhere!" she called.

A pause before he went back to stabbing the training dummy was the only indication the Khajiit had heard her.

***

The next time Khati disappeared, Meti and Tameri decided they needed to confront him. The desert was dangerous for the unprepared, and they had to make sure their Khajiit son remained safe.

Two days after leaving for his contract, Khati slipped back into the house in the middle of the night only to find both Meti and Tameri awake and waiting for him. An expression of surprise flitted across his face, there and gone almost too quickly to be noticed in the dim light of the lantern.

"Where have you been?" Meti asked.

Khati scowled. "Out."

"Khati, we worry about you," Tameri said. "The desert is dangerous at night, and you always leave without saying anything. Do you have any idea how I feel when I go to wake you and your bed is empty and cold?"

The Khajiit's scowl deepened and he tried to push past, only for Meti to stop him.

"What would Siri think if you didn't come back?" Tameri continued.

"He's too busy with his Alik'r friends to even notice." Khati's tail was flicking wildly behind him now. It was a sign of danger that both Redguards would ignore.

"You know that isn't true," Meti said, a frown now painted across his face.

Khati scoffed. "It certainly feels like it. When's the last time he even asked about me being gone?"

"Last night at dinner," Tameri said. "He misses you, Khati, we all do. We worry about you! How can we make you see that?"

"I don't need your worry, just leave me alone!" Khati tried to push past him again, but Meti remained firm in front of the door.

"What's gotten into you?" Meti asked.

"Maybe I just finally grew a spine and decided I don't have to accept everyone treating me like shit for being a cat."

Tameri frowned. "You know we don't think of you like that. You'll always be our son."

"If you really care about me you'll stay out of my business. You're just going to leave me anyway! Everyone does!"

The Khajiit whirled around almost faster than they could follow. A moment later he was gone again, the door slamming behind him.

"Khati! Khati, stop!"

Meti ran after him, flinging the door open to the empty desert. Khati was already gone.

"Mother? Father? What's all the noise?" Kemosiri stood in the hallway leading to the bedrooms, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Tameri turned toward her son, unable to hide the sadness in her smile. "It's nothing, Siri. Go back to bed."

"Was it Khati? Where did he go?"

Meti sighed and closed the front door once more. "He'll be home later, son. Now come on, it's past bedtime for all of us."


End file.
